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A Hater's Opinion On The Knicks' Remaining Reg Season + Playoffs

Below is infamous Knick hater, Chris Broussard's take on the remainder of the Knicks 2010-2011 campaign

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This article is by Ian Begley From ESPNNewYork

NEW YORK -- The hard part is just about over for the New York Knicks.

Heightened expectations and a demanding schedule created a draining month of March. The Knicks complained of too much fatigue and too little fun, strange timing for a franchise that was enjoying its best season in a decade.

More From ESPNNewYork.com

New York Knicks star Amare Stoudemire said he is ready for a Manic March to an end, writes Ian Begley. Story

• Check out the Knicks blog
April should be easier -- at least until those playoff games the Knicks are so close to qualifying for.

First, they close the month Wednesday with a visit from the New Jersey Nets, ending a turbulent stretch they can't wait to put behind them.

"This month has been just brutal," Carmelo Anthony said Tuesday. "It's been nonstop ever since the trade. I came straight from the trade off the plane to play in a game. We've been playing every other day, nonstop, back-to-backs. I laughed and joked about when I first got traded and I looked at the schedule: 'I ain't signed up for this.'

"But we knew as a team this was going to be a brutal month for us, so we just wanted to get through it to prepare for the playoffs."

Amare Stoudemire called it "maybe the hardest month I've ever played in in my career." It even included a game rescheduled from November, Monday's 113-106 overtime victory over Orlando.

"And on top of that, we're trying to get used to our new teammates," Stoudemire said.

The Knicks never could have imagined it would be so difficult when the month opened. Just days after the blockbuster deal for Anthony, they went to Miami and beat the Heat in their final game of February. They stood in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and were even talking about moving up to fifth.

Instead, they went backward.

The Knicks are 6-11 in March and have tumbled into seventh place at 36-38. Spring arrived in New York with cold temperatures and an even more frigid team that lost nine of 10 games before outlasting the Magic behind 39 points and 10 rebounds from Anthony in his best game since the trade.

It was an auspicious time for Anthony to remind New York fans how thrilled they were over his arrival. The next day, his first sponsor to sign on since the trade, Boost Mobile, unveiled a 128-foot billboard a block from Madison Square Garden.

"Just moving forward, taking that step forward," Anthony said as passing fans waved and called his name. "We brought a lot of excitement back not just to the Garden but to the whole city. Everyone's excited about the new Knicks."

Problem is, they've looked like the old Knicks against losing teams, and those are what they face over the rest of this four-game homestand. They host Cleveland on Sunday, trying to avoid an improbable and embarrassing four-game season sweep, then close it out by welcoming Toronto on Tuesday.

Win just a couple of them and the Knicks, with a magic number of four, could be back in the postseason. But they've curiously struggled against sub-.500 teams, one of many problems over the last month.

New York lost twice each to Indiana and Milwaukee during its 18-game schedule that included six sets of games on back-to-back nights.

"Lot of games, lot of nights, lot of things, and who knows what causes it, sometimes things sap your energy and you might not even be aware of it," coach Mike D'Antoni said after Monday's victory. "But with efforts like this, the team will come together and we'll be better for it."

D'Antoni has struggled to find answers during the swoon. He pointed to a lack of practice time, yet then canceled the team's last two scheduled practices in favor of extra rest. He frequently changed his lineup, sometimes even from half to half, and alarmingly said before Monday's game that he was "not sure who needs to play."

At least he has Anthony, who had set his previous Knicks high two nights earlier. Stoudemire is more of a concern, appearing worn out after carrying the club for most of the season. The NBA's fourth-leading scorer with 25.5 points per game has been held to 16 or fewer in three of the last five games.

But the Knicks believe the three-day break between games after Wednesday will help get some spring back in his legs.

"Both those guys will have big games and big moments, that's what they do," D'Antoni said. "Again, I just keep going back, if we can keep the intensity and the urgency right there, then we can get out of this slump for sure."

With Chauncey Billups appearing back in form Monday after playing poorly most of the month following a bruised thigh March 1 that cost him six games, plus a solid defensive effort that held Dwight Howard without a field goal in the first half, the Knicks again had the look of a team that could cause trouble in the first round.

They could draw Boston, a team that's having its own issues adjusting to a major trade. Or maybe it will be a Heat team they split with, including that impressive victory in Miami before everything went so wrong.

"I don't really dwell on what happened before," D'Antoni said. "We've got to take this and go forward, and again, we've been here before. We were like this against Miami and then it slipped away. We can't let it slip away."

●Will D'Antoni do what he must and steer away from his beloved system?
●Can Melo become more of a team player?
●Will STAT break out of his offensive funk?
●Will Billups show up on time?
●Will Landry find his niche?
●What'll happen with Ronny and Shelden?
●Can we handle Boston's size?
●What’s TD23 got in store for our 1st round opponent?

●Will D'Antoni do what he must and steer away from his beloved system?He already did. We're playing a lot of halfcourt offense since the trade.
●Can Melo become more of a team player?He showed great team play in the last couple of games, dishing out 5 assiss or more on a regular basis, grabbing rebounds and since monday playing defense.
●Will STAT break out of his offensive funk?Not really. No matter who we play in the first round, he'll face tough competition and the way it looks he's burned. Too many minutes before the All Star break.
●Will Billups show up on time?I hope so. With Billups you never know. One day he puts up 32, 8 and 6 and the next day he's 2-9 from 3 and has only 4 assists.
●Will Landry find his niche?Landry looks completely out of sync lately. At this point I'd probably start Toney Douglas at the 2 in the playoffs. Landry looks lost out there.
●What'll happen with Ronny and Shelden?Ronny has been a great role player all season. Let's hope he can stay healthy for more than 3 days in a row...Shelden is a decent rebounder and defender. His size is a roblem though (barely 6-9)
●Can we handle Boston's size?If Shaq doesn't play we can. Krstic is not that good. Jermaine won't make it. I'm pretty sure he's body is wrecked once and for all.If Shaq makes it he'll burn us.
●What’s TD23 got in store for our 1st round opponent?Hustle, energy and 3 point shooting. He'll give Rondo a hard time. If we play Miami, he'll constantly harass Chalmers. Bibby's 3 point shooting might be a problem though, cause Toney is not very good at denying the 3 ball.

●Will D'Antoni do what he must and steer away from his beloved system?
●Can Melo become more of a team player?
●Will STAT break out of his offensive funk?
●Will Billups show up on time?
●Will Landry find his niche?
●What'll happen with Ronny and Shelden?
●Can we handle Boston's size?
●What’s TD23 got in store for our 1st round opponent?

The list goes on.

To me, the merit of Boston's size advantage over us comes down to how healthy and effective Shaq can be. If he's healthy and playing 25+ minutes a night, we virtually have no chance. If he's not healthy, I can honestly see us taking them to 6 or 7.

To me, the merit of Boston's size advantage over us comes down to how healthy and effective Shaq can be. If he's healthy and playing 25+ minutes a night, we virtually have no chance. If he's not healthy, I can honestly see us taking them to 6 or 7.

WOW! that must be some powerful stuff u are smoking.....
If headcoach Doc Rivers show up to every game we are
getting Broom-Swept. Get a dust pan!

The same goes for bumbing into other headcoaches in the
first-round like SVG, or Tom Thibideau.
Miami Heat Big-3 will be entertaining on getting the highest
Ratings in the postseason (like Boston Big-3 did in 2008) by
losing one or two games in the first-round.

As long as we have the "Dantoni-brothers" on the Knicks
coaching-staff we are vulnerable and incomplete as a team.
For the last two seasons all the Knicks needed was a decent
offense/defense headcoach with developing-skills for our young
players. ala McMillian or Brooks young developing skills.

I don't think CS was "hating" on this Knicks here, but I do think this is yet another case of LAZY reporting by another industry hack not versed in the finer points of journalism. Opinons are fine, but they need to be balanced by fact.

First of all, this paragraph pretty much sums up what I'm trying to say (exposing CS as a hack, more of a talking ahead than a legit reporter):

"Win just a couple of them and the Knicks, with a magic number of four, could be back in the postseason. But they've curiously struggled against sub-.500 teams, one of many problems over the last month."

Yikes! Forget about the sloppy grammar... He ASSUMES way too much from the reader... a major NO-NO. EXPLAIN yourselef Chris. When he writes "the Knicks... could be back in the post season," he probably acually intends to mean that AFTER A LONG DROUGHT, NY will return to the playoffs DESPITE their March swoon; HOWEVER, in the context of this article, it sounds like he's writing that their poor play has almost derailed their post season train... when we know they're post seaosn was NEVER seriously in jeapordy. Their cushion was too large.

ALSO, why only paint HALF the picture? Since acquiring Carmelo Anthony the NY Knicks are 7-4 against teams ABOVE .500. all em crazy, but I would venture to guess the Knicks will be playing a team with a record above .500, not below... right?

Maybe this is an indictment on their effort or egos, or whatnot... BUT, that tidbot should be added when you're going to comment on life in NY with 'Melo.

To be fair, he does mentions the brutal schedule and offer up all the excuses we've heard from coach and everyone else. Mentions Billups poor play since the injury and all that jazz.

The bottom line: The trade was made for the post season. THEY WANT a GAME 6 at the garden. They didn't feel that was something their former team could muster... If this current squad doesn't deliver that game in the first round, then let them bashing begin.

As long as the BIG-APPLE New York Knicks keep entertaining
Managers/Headcoaches with the same philosophy as Layden/Isiah
then NBA writers/announcers will increase their negative attitude
on Knicks Basketball.

We need to Stop using the players as "Scape-Goats".

If u owned a company and your manager kept hiring workers like
Jerome James, Marbury, Crawful, Frances, and Curry, ect. workers
who come to work everyday to do nothing.....who should the owner
hold incharge of these workers performance???

The Dantoni brothers are like two parents with 4 children where two of the children are always on 24/7 punishment.

As long as the BIG-APPLE New York Knicks keep entertaining
Managers/Headcoaches with the same philosophy as Layden/Isiah
then NBA writers/announcers will increase their negative attitude
on Knicks Basketball.

We need to Stop using the players as "Scape-Goats".

If u owned a company and your manager kept hiring workers like
Jerome James, Marbury, Crawful, Frances, and Curry, ect. workers
who come to work everyday to do nothing.....who should the owner
hold incharge of these workers performance???

The Dantoni brothers are like two parents with 4 children where two of the children are always on 24/7 punishment.

I like how you shout that we need to stop using the players as "Scape-Goats" when its plain and clear you're using Dantoni as a Scape Goat. BTW, its not the coach that picks the players. It was Isiah that brought in Jerome "Big Mac" James, Marbury the chemistry killer, Crawful lol, and Baconater Curry.

I would ask for a reasonable and rational retort, but I'm asking too much for Kiyaman.

I don't think CS was "hating" on this Knicks here, but I do think this is yet another case of LAZY reporting by another industry hack not versed in the finer points of journalism. Opinons are fine, but they need to be balanced by fact.

First of all, this paragraph pretty much sums up what I'm trying to say (exposing CS as a hack, more of a talking ahead than a legit reporter):

"Win just a couple of them and the Knicks, with a magic number of four, could be back in the postseason. But they've curiously struggled against sub-.500 teams, one of many problems over the last month."

Yikes! Forget about the sloppy grammar... He ASSUMES way too much from the reader... a major NO-NO. EXPLAIN yourselef Chris. When he writes "the Knicks... could be back in the post season," he probably acually intends to mean that AFTER A LONG DROUGHT, NY will return to the playoffs DESPITE their March swoon; HOWEVER, in the context of this article, it sounds like he's writing that their poor play has almost derailed their post season train... when we know they're post seaosn was NEVER seriously in jeapordy. Their cushion was too large.

ALSO, why only paint HALF the picture? Since acquiring Carmelo Anthony the NY Knicks are 7-4 against teams ABOVE .500. all em crazy, but I would venture to guess the Knicks will be playing a team with a record above .500, not below... right?

Maybe this is an indictment on their effort or egos, or whatnot... BUT, that tidbot should be added when you're going to comment on life in NY with 'Melo.

To be fair, he does mentions the brutal schedule and offer up all the excuses we've heard from coach and everyone else. Mentions Billups poor play since the injury and all that jazz.

The bottom line: The trade was made for the post season. THEY WANT a GAME 6 at the garden. They didn't feel that was something their former team could muster... If this current squad doesn't deliver that game in the first round, then let them bashing begin.

Mafra.... dont bite into an unknown pie expecting the same as Mama's pie.
Certain writers/anouncers are not powerful enough to point fingers at Dolan/
Walsh/Dantoni without their job being in jeopardy. So they point all their
articles at Amare/Carmelo/and Billups.

I liked Hollinger article on Carmelo & Billups are giving the same
exact performance they been giving in Denver, its just the Knicks
have a much different system of doing things.
The ex-Knick players fit right into the Denver system on their arrival
b/c it was less complicated than a certain Celebrity coach system.
Denver have Big-bodies in the paint to screen/rebound in Nene/
K-Mart/Birdman, plus two scoring SG to shoot the lights out in
Affalo/Smith.

Example: If OKC go seven hard crunchtime games vs the Lakers in the
postseason in the 2nd-round or WCF with a great episode of Perkins vs
Bynum & Gasol, and then Lakers go on to beat Boston in 6 games in the
Finals with the domination of Bynum & Gasol....... only the top NBA writers
will humilliate Ainge for the trade.

I like how you shout that we need to stop using the players as "Scape-Goats" when its plain and clear you're using Dantoni as a Scape Goat. BTW, its not the coach that picks the players. It was Isiah that brought in Jerome "Big Mac" James, Marbury the chemistry killer, Crawful lol, and Baconater Curry.

I would ask for a reasonable and rational retort, but I'm asking too much for Kiyaman.

Maybe its u not knowing how important it is to have a "Headcoach Sloan"
calling all the shots to a long coaching-staff and a 15 player roster for a
franchise. Plus coaching offense/defense to a 9+ man rotation by coaching
players to "THEIR" best talents so when injuries occur during the season u
always have a decent backup who was receiving 18 minutes of playingtime
in every other game now could be used as a 28 minute starter. u are absolutely right about Kiyaman.

Isiah Thomas never shouldve FIRED headcoach Don Chaney, or
interupt coaches practice session with the players. Isiah assistant
coach Mark Aquire didnt like the interuptions. And Larry Brown has
been a nemisis of Isiah when Isiah was a player.
Dolan hired Larry Brown not Isiah
Dolan traded Ewing not Layden
Dolan traded Camby & Nene not Layden
Dolan traded Ariza not Isiah
Dolan traded Gallo, Chandler, Felton, AR, Mozgov, and Curry not Walsh.
Certain trades involved to much Luxury-Tax being paid out for a G.M.
who want to keep his job to get involve in. Common-Sense!!!

Maybe its u not knowing how important it is to have a "Headcoach Sloan"
calling all the shots to a long coaching-staff and a 15 player roster for a
franchise. Plus coaching offense/defense to a 9+ man rotation by coaching
players to "THEIR" best talents so when injuries occur during the season u
always have a decent backup who was receiving 18 minutes of playingtime
in every other game now could be used as a 28 minute starter. u are absolutely right about Kiyaman.

Isiah Thomas never shouldve FIRED headcoach Don Chaney, or
interupt coaches practice session with the players. Isiah assistant
coach Mark Aquire didnt like the interuptions. And Larry Brown has
been a nemisis of Isiah when Isiah was a player.
Dolan hired Larry Brown not Isiah
Dolan traded Ewing not Layden
Dolan traded Camby & Nene not Layden
Dolan traded Ariza not Isiah
Dolan traded Gallo, Chandler, Felton, AR, Mozgov, and Curry not Walsh.
Certain trades involved to much Luxury-Tax being paid out for a G.M.
who want to keep his job to get involve in. Common-Sense!!!

And Dolan payed that women 12 million and still kept Isiah in his inner circle...
F ISIAH........
We should have traded CURRY TO TORONTO.....out of the usa

Maybe its u not knowing how important it is to have a "Headcoach Sloan"
calling all the shots to a long coaching-staff and a 15 player roster for a
franchise. Plus coaching offense/defense to a 9+ man rotation by coaching
players to "THEIR" best talents so when injuries occur during the season u
always have a decent backup who was receiving 18 minutes of playingtime
in every other game now could be used as a 28 minute starter. u are absolutely right about Kiyaman.

Isiah Thomas never shouldve FIRED headcoach Don Chaney, or
interupt coaches practice session with the players. Isiah assistant
coach Mark Aquire didnt like the interuptions. And Larry Brown has
been a nemisis of Isiah when Isiah was a player.
Dolan hired Larry Brown not Isiah
Dolan traded Ewing not Layden
Dolan traded Camby & Nene not Layden
Dolan traded Ariza not Isiah
Dolan traded Gallo, Chandler, Felton, AR, Mozgov, and Curry not Walsh.
Certain trades involved to much Luxury-Tax being paid out for a G.M.
who want to keep his job to get involve in. Common-Sense!!!

I would ask for a reasonable and rational retort, but I'm asking too much for Kiyaman.

Its so hard to understand you since you go off on such wild tangents and never actual reply to anything.